ALIYA MOLDAGULOVA

Kazakh girl-sniper Aliya Moldagulova became a legend of the Second World War. The brave daughter of the country of the Great Steppe destroyed about 80 fascist soldiers and officers during the Great Patriotic War. At the age of 19, she was posthumously awarded the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Aliya Moldagulova was born on October 25, 1925, in Bulak village of Khobdinsky district of Aktobe region. At 7 years old, the girl lost her mother, after she was in the family of her uncle Aubakir. In 1935, her uncle entered the Military Transport Academy and took little Aliya with him. She visited many cities in the country with her uncle. In Leningrad, 14-year-old Aliya began to live in an orphanage in Okhta.

In September 1941, the siege of Leningrad began. Aliya, along with other high school students, participated in the construction of defensive fortifications around the city on the Neva River. Not only did she work hard, but she was also able to cheer others up. In November 1941, Aliya Moldagulova was admitted to the Leninist Young Communist League of the Soviet Union.

In March 1942, the orphanage was evacuated to the Yaroslavl region, where Aliya finished 7 grades of school. In the same year, she entered the aviation technical school in Rybinsk, where she studied for 3 months. Several times she applied for admission to the army, but she was refused. On October 25, Aliya turned 17, and a month later, she was expelled from the technical school "due to leaving for the front". This was the beginning of Aliya Moldagulova's short but incredibly bright and heroic journey.

Aliya entered the first class of the Central School of Sniper Instructors, which was located in the village of Veshnyaki in the suburb of Moscow. In July 1943, she was sent as a sniper to the 54th rifle brigade of the 22nd army. In the military archives, there are memories of her fellow soldiers. J. K. Prokopenkova said: "Fragile and very nice girl from Kazakhstan. She was only 18 years old, but by October the sniper had 32 fascists killed."  According to N. A. Matveeva's memoirs: "Leah and I were assigned to the same platoon of the fourth battalion. We, snipers, went on missions in pairs, we had pre-prepared positions. We stayed there until we took aim at the krauts and liquidated them. Then enemy shells and mines hit us! Leah was exceptionally fearless at such times. She not only beat the fascists. She carried the wounded from the battlefield and provided them first aid."

In early January 1944, during the Leningrad-Novgorod operation, the 54th rifle brigade marched to Novosokolniki in the Pskov region. At the Nasva station, the soldiers met heavy enemy fire. According to the memoirs of the political officer of the 4th battalion, G. V. Varshavsky, the task was to cut the Novosokolniki-Dno railway and capture the village of Kazachikha. It was a fierce battle in which, at a critical moment, Aliya Moldagulova stood up and shouted: "Brothers, soldiers, follow me!" On that day, Aliya participated three times in repelling enemy counterattacks and destroyed several soldiers and officers with a machine gun. And even being wounded in the arm by a fragment of a mine, she participated in hand-to-hand combat in a German trench. Here she received a second wound, which took her life, but before her death, a brave Kazakh girl destroyed a German officer.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 4, 1944, сorporal Moldagulova Aliya Nurmukhambetovna was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

In the frontline newspaper "Forward, for the Motherland!" a material dedicated to the feat of Hero of the Soviet Union Aliya Moldagulova was published. It said that the brave Komsomol had repeatedly raised fighters in the attack, participated in trench combat, that she had gathered in herself the best, noble features of young Soviet people. Her beautiful life is an example to all the soldiers of the front. The note ended with the words: "The name of the Kazakh girl-warrior Aliya Moldagulova will forever shine in the rays of our victory."

75 years have passed since the end of that terrible war. Kazakhstanis always pay tribute to those who defended their Homeland from the Nazi invaders. The First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev constantly emphasizes that the Victory in the Great Patriotic War got at the cost of innumerable sufferings, sacrifices and hardship, and Kazakhstan sacredly honors the memory of the victims.

"The people of Kazakhstan made a significant contribution to the achievement of the Victory. More than 500 of our countrymen became heroes of the Soviet Union. A feat of sons and daughters of our people - Talgat Bigeldinov, Rakhymzhan Koshkarbaev, Kasym Kaisenov, Manshuk Mametova, Alia Moldagulova, Hiuaz Dospanova and others, will forever remain in the hearts of descendants", Elbassy said.

The documentary "Aliya" and the feature film "Snipers" were made about the feat of Aliya Moldagulova. At the place of her death in the city of Novosokolniki in the Pskov region, a memorial complex was built. The name of the legendary Kazakh sniper bears the streets in cities and villages of Kazakhstan and Russia; monuments are erected in her memory. The heroism of a young 18-year-old girl - Alia Moldagulova - will forever remain in the memory of the people.